Organisations such as, Cadbury Schweppes need to communicate with their customers for the following reasons:

To start an advertising campaign, the business must produce an advertising plan. An advertising plan involves allocating a budget to a range of activities designed to meet advertising objectives. There are five main steps in a well-managed advertising campaign:

. Setting advertising objectives

2. Set the advertising budget

3. Determine the key advertising messages

4. Decide which advertising media to use

5. Evaluate the result of the advertising campaign

Setting advertising objectives

An advertising objective is a specific communication, which is used to achieve a specific target audience during a particular period of time. These objectives can be divided into three main groups:

. To inform, e.g. tell customers about a new product

2. To persuade, e.g. encourage customers to switch to another brand

3. To remind, e.g. remind buyers where to find the product

Set the advertising budget

Setting the advertising budget can be a complicated task for any business. This is because; it is difficult to predict how effective a particular campaign is going to be, and therefore how much money should be spent. There are a number of ways, which business might use to decide upon advertising budget, e.g.:

* As a percentage of past sales- the advantage of this is, using finance already earned. The disadvantage of this is, it ignores changes in the future market

* As a percentage of future sales- the advantage of this is, it is very flexible. The disadvantage of this is problems can occur if, sales targets are not met.

* Based on competitor expenditure- the advantage of this, easy assess to the market. The disadvantage of this is, it can lead to competitors gaining the lead because, they are always the pace-setters

Determine the key advertising messages

The advertising message must be carefully aimed at the target consumer audience. An effective advertising message should have the following characteristics:

. Meaningful- customers should find the message relevant

2. Distinctive- attract customer's attention

3. Believable- should be a truthful advertisement

Decide which advertising media to use

There are a wide range of advertising media from which to choose, e.g. television, radio, press, poster, etc. Businesses need to consider the following key factors in choosing the appropriate media:

. Reach- what proportion of the target customers will be exposed to the advertising?

2. Frequency- how many times will target customer be exposed to the advertising message?

3. Media Impact- where, if the target customer sees the message- will it have the most impact?

Evaluate the results of the advertising campaign

To evaluate the results of the advertising campaign, the business should focus on two key areas: the communication effects and the sales effects. For the communication effects, is the intended message being communicated effectively and to the intended audience? For the sales effects, has the advertising campaign made the intended sales growth?

Advertising messages can be sent through a wide range of media forms, such as television, radio, posters, cinemas, billboards, flyers, transport advertising and the press.

At all stage in the advertising process, it is important for businesses to assess how effectively advertisements have contributed to the communication process. To do this, businesses need to measure their set advertising objectives, using DAGMAR. DAGMAR stands for, Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. This means that, before starting any advertising campaign, the business must define its communication objectives so that, achievements can be measured, during and after the campaign.

There are two main government bodies which monitor advertisement in the UK. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) monitors any advertisements in newspapers, magazines and posters. This body makes sure at any advertisements in these media forms are, '...true, decent, fair, legal'. If any complaints are made by consumers, ASA will investigate the advertisement, and possibly ban it from publication. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) monitors any advertisements on the radio, on television, and at the cinema. Again, if any complaints are made by consumers, ITC will investigate the advertisement, and possibly ban it in the future.

Advantages of advertising:

*

* Appropriate for building awareness

* Ability to create images that sales staff cannot

* Effective at reaching a wide audience

* Repetition of main brand or product positioning helps build customer trust

Disadvantages of advertising:

*

* It is expensive to advertise

* Difficulties in measuring effectiveness

* Difficulties in getting immediate response and action

* Not suitable to getting customers to make a final purchasing decision

Unit 7: Marketing Promotional Strategy

E4

Created by Baljinder Duhra - 36 -